Feb 4, 2014

06:58 PM

State Sen. John McKinney calls for Ed Commissioner's Resignation

by Jennifer Swift

State Senate Minority Leader and gubernatorial candidate John McKinney called for the state’s commissioner of education to resign Tuesday, citing a bumpy road in implementing the state’s education reform initiatives and federal common core standards.

“By choosing to implement these new programs with limited input from teachers and on an overly ambitious schedule, both the governor and the commissioner have lost the confidence of parents and educators across our state. The roll-out has been met with confusion and frustration by teachers, administrators and parents,” McKinney said in a statement.

As the state re-examines assessing the reforms and deadlines for such, McKinney said the state needs “new leadership.”

In a press release from the governor’s office — which cheekily pointed out that McKinney’s released had misspelled Stefan Pryor’s first name — Malloy’s Chief of Staff Mark Ojakian characterized McKinney’s argument as “shameless.”

“Time and again, Senator McKinney has proven that there is literally nothing he won’t say if he thinks it will bring him press attention. While the administration is working with teachers and parents to improve public education, John McKinney is working to further his political ambitions by scoring political points at the expense of Connecticut’s children. It’s beneath his office and, frankly shameless, even for him.”

The State Board of Education Chairman Allan Taylor also rejected McKinney’s call for Pryor’s resignation.

“Commissioner Pryor is helping to bring Connecticut education to where it needs and ought to be. He has tackled all challenges with great skill and extraordinary energy,” he said in a statement. “It is very unfortunate that various people have developed an interest in identifying the implementation of the Common Core State Standards as a failure, even though in order to do so, they have to misstate what the standards are.”